As Fortnite Season 9 Approaches, Mysterious Runes Are Appearing Around The Island

Fortnite appears to be teasing its upcoming season, with strange happenings in the world. This time it's a series of runes near Loot Lake, and the community is already scrambling to unlock their mysteries.

Fans on the Fortnite subreddit have been swapping information about the "Loot Lake Rune Event" in a dedicated thread. There appear to be two runes spotted so far--one in Fatal Fields and one in Paradise Palms. The runes are moving, however, and seem to be changing directions. That could signify that they're drawing a pattern, similar to past events with moving objects. Meanwhile, a strange vault has appeared at the bottom of Loot Lake, reports PC Gamer. That appears to correspond with the rune movements.

Update: Over the weekend, one of the runes slotted into place into the vault at the bottom of Loot Lake. The vault appears to have several slots where more runes could go, so chances are once they all take their places the next phase of the world event will occur.

Meanwhile, Fortnite has begun to tease another world event happening soon. The game appears to be teasing a crossover event with the upcoming blockbuster Avengers: Endgame. So far we've seen two teasers, depicting Captain America's shield and Thor's axe, Stormbreaker. That could mean a new limited-time mode with special Avengers equipment.

Fortnite Season 8 began on February 28, and seasons usually last 10 weeks. That means we have about two more weeks until the start of the next season, so now is the right time for Epic to begin laying the groundwork for it. Fortnite has been known to launch massive in-world events, usually with puzzles or big events for players to participate in, to both generate excitement and hint at the direction for the upcoming season.

That also means you only have a few weeks left to finish your challenges. If you need a hand with those, make sure to check out our challenge guide and Jigsaw pieces guide. The latest jigsaw puzzle formed a strange alien image, which could also be a clue of things to come.